Abstract
This presentation introduces to the audience the outcome of a study that investigated the impact of teaching formulaic Language on improving the written skills of intermediate level students in a Bridge Programme at an American University in Dubai. Formulaic Language forms an integral part of the lexicon (e.g. Martinez and Schmitt, 2012); they have been found to be fundamental to the way Language is used, processed, and acquired mastering formulaic Language have been repeatedly cited in the literature (e.g. Durrant, 2008; Wray, 2000). Linguists highlight four key benefits of formulaic Language that are also supported by empirical evidence; (1) making up a large proportion of any discourse (e.g. 58.6% of spoken text and 52.3% of written text; Erman and Warren (2000); (2) they express a multitude of meanings and functions; (3) they promote efficient and effective communication as formulaic Language is easier and faster to understand and produce (e.g. Conklin and Schmitt, 2008) (4) they enhance productive fluency (e.g. Guz, 2014). The presenter will share with the audience some of the outcomes of the study. For an example, the analysis of the results of the learners' writing scores confirmed that the formulaic Language could be considered an adequate teaching approach to improve the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' writing ability of the field-independent learners more than field-dependent ones.
Author Information
Sally Kondos, American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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